A lovely & attractive museum that perhaps not too many people know/talk about.

It is unusual in that it's the sole museum of it's kind that specialises in interior decor & domestic house layouts in Britain since the 1600s.

As you enter it first explains what constitutes middle class folks, how they came to be, and points out that most layouts are representative of households of such "middling sorts". You'll come to see what was considered fashionable and when, items sought after, how 'exotic' items coincided with the colonisation in different parts of the world, etc. Also through the room presentation you can learn about routines in typical households too.

For instance, they used to write letters to friends to invite them over for tea, relying on the efficient postal service, and thus arranging a date within 2-3 days!

It's great fun to view examples of how a lounge or diner looked like in bygone eras, from a few decades back to several centuries ago. You'll also see a layout whereby you get an inside view of the front door, hallway, and lounge/diner through there! It's almost like stepping back in time, depending on how old you are now, the older styles may remind you of old times, as in your memory or captured in family photographs! Now you can understand how some film-makers can get the right look & feel for films set in olden times!

There is a large courtyard in the front with attractive flower gardens, a true joy to experience :) You can admire this from the bright, airy cafe, which has large windows all around.

Past the cafe and through a bright foyer (light flooding in via the cool skylights), you approach a quirky, modern staircase that leads you to the WCs downstairs. Around the staircase are open layouts of rooms from recent times, starting with 1900 and ending with 2000. Which does your room look like?? It's great noticing old TV sets or bakelite radios.